The best example is their use of Sirius, the Dog Star. In Egypt the temple priests derive much of their prestige from close attention to the stars, enabling them to give the impression of predicting natural events. A star observed in a given place - on the horizon at dawn, for example - will be there again exactly a year later. The stars appear in the night sky at different times and places depending on where the earth is in its orbit round the sun. The only simple yet accurate way of measuring a year is in relation to the stars (though structures such as the passage grave at Newgrange can record an annual position of the sun, at a considerable cost in effort). Primitive societies make do with a broad concept, counting the year as starting when leaves sprout on a particular tree or describing someone as having lived through a certain number of harvests. But the length of a year is exceptionally hard to measure.
FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY CALENDAR EXPLANATION FULL
A far more important slice of time is the year, a full circuit of the earth round the sun - crucial in human activities because of its influence on seasons and crops. The month is a well adjusted length of time for recalling fairly recent events, and it has a magic significance through its loose link with the female menstrual period. The only two measures of time available to primitive people are the day (the space between two nights) and the month (the space between new moons). And the patterns in the sky must surely reflect that influence.Ĭompilers of a calendar, attempting to record and to predict the passage of time, are offered an easy first step in the cycle of the moon. The sky is the home of many of the gods, who influence life on earth. In early history the two are closely linked. Astrology is a pseudo-science interpreting the supposed effect of the heavenly bodies on human existence. Man's interest in the sky is at the heart of three separate stories - astronomy, astrology and the calendar.Īstronomy is the scientific study of sun, moon and stars. And yet on a clear night the sky is the very opposite - predictable, if you look hard enough, with recognizable groups of stars moving in a slow but reliable manner. In the daytime it is moody there may be blazing sun, or racing clouds, or darkness followed by thunder and lightning. Two great objects travel through it, one hot and constant, the other cold and changeable. We feel we understand that.īut the sky is beyond comprehension. Plants and animals grow and die, rain falls, rivers flow. Familiarity may make the amazing events going on at ground level seem almost ordinary. The sky is the most mysterious part of our everyday experience.